Apple adds Xfinity, DirecTV as MLS Season Pass distributors
After a couple of seasons as an Apple exclusive, Major League Soccer and Apple are broadening the reach of MLS Season Pass for this season. The company is making MLS League Pass available to Xfinity subscribers, who can add it to their package and stream it on Apple devices or on the Xfinity X1 box, and to DirecTV subscribers, who can just tune it in on channels 480 through 495 just like any other subscription sports TV package.
These are interesting moves, and suggest that Apple and MLS are not satisfied with the reach of MLS Season Pass solely within the TV app. Both parties are trying to balance Apple’s desire to use MLS as a gateway into Apple’s ecosystem and the need to improve total subscriber numbers. Letting people who’d rather just buy an MLS package through their cable or satellite provider seems like it’ll broaden the audience, but at the expense of that Apple ecosystem play. (Xfinity subscribers will get access to the whip-around MLS 360 channel even if they don’t subscribe to MLS Season Pass.)
There’s also a new franchise, Sunday Night Soccer, which features a single match in a unique time slot. Previously, Apple and MLS had jammed all MLS play into limited windows on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Now they’re creating a premier Sunday showcase for a handpicked game—think ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball or NBC’s Sunday Night Football—and making it available within the TV app for all Apple TV+ subscribers, not just MLS Season Pass subscribers.
The MLS season begins February 22. MLS Season Pass still costs $99, or $79 for Apple TV+ subscribers. Apple’s also rolling out a new MLS documentary series, “Onside,” on February 21.
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